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Since the winter of 1986-87, when the Beastie Boys first started appearing on television with some regularity, fans have made an effort to record and preserve these interviews and performances. Ten years later (1996-97), fans began trading VHS video cassettes thanks to the burgeoning use of the internet. Compiling various clips was a challenge because in the USA video cassette recorders are NTSC formatted, whereas in Europe they are set to either the PAL or SECAM formats. This difference in formats required footage acquired from overseas to be converted with expensive international VCRs.
Around the turn of the century (1999), there was a great deal of talk regarding VCR to DVD recording possibilities. However, many DVD recorders were not compatible with other DVD players. Therefore a DVD+R or DVD-R that had been recorded on one machine may not be recognized when play was attempted in another DVD player. This opened the door for VCDs (video compact discs) to briefly be the media of choice among Beastie Boys video collectors/traders. It was not long though until DVD recorders came down in price and manufacturers ironed out the compatibility issues. In 2003, fans began to digitalized and archive their old clips either with stand alone DVD recorders or with computer software and in-tower CD/DVD burners. With high speed internet connections in most homes, trading digitalized footage became as simple as the click of a mouse. File sharing had largely replaced the old days of buying blank VHS tapes or DVDs, packaging the media up, and standing in line at the post office for hours.
In 2006, everything changed again. With the advent of YouTube, fans could upload digital footage of the Beastie Boys for others to see, but not necessarily download. In the past, only a select few had access to these old television interviews and performances. The popularity of YouTube and similar video streaming sites has had fans questioning the context: the who, what, where, when, and why of when a particular Beastie Boys interview was conducted. Even during the old days of VHS tape trading, footage was often labeled inaccurately or not labeled at all. So the challenge for us at Beastiemania.com was to find a way to organize these television clips chronologically and when possible provide as much information as we can about them. If you have footage which he have not yet included or more information about an appearance please email us here at the following address staff at Beastiemania dot com.
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